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Rick and Morty Season 4, Episode 1 Review- Edge of Tomorty: Rick, Die, Rickpeat

Wubba-lubba dub dub, Rick and Morty is back, baby! Last night, Adult Swim’s mega-hit Rick and Morty made its grand return. It’s been 770 days since new episodes came on, and yes, Adult Swim kept count. However, as the bumper the channel showed right before the season points out, it’s worth the wait. After watching the premiere episode, Edge of Tomorty: Rick, Die, Rickpeat, I agree. Whereas other shows may start to grow stale, Rick and Morty finds a way to stay fresh while also going back to basics. Only Rick could do that.

Same Junk, Different Day for Rick

At the end of the last season, Rick had his status upended by Jerry moving back into the house. Now Rick has to deal with the new status quo of having to ask Morty to go on adventures. Edge of Tomorty sees him taking it as well as a sociopathic genius who thinks he’s better than everyone else will. In other words, he considers the whole thing a huge pain.

I think Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon did this to address complaints from fans who want the show to return to its season one. As Rick would probably say, shows end up changing over time; everything does. It’s how the universe works, and eventually everything ends. Speaking of which, Rick’s adventure involves stealing crystals that show the user how they die. It’s a clever concept on paper, but in pratice, its hilarious. Since the future’s always changing, the crystal’s won’t work outside of being a cool hack in a fight.

However, Morty ends up addicted to the crystals when they show him a future dying old with Jessica at his side. So when Rick dies and he’s left to his own devices, Morty refuses to revive him so he can take the best route to this perceived perfect ending.

Morty Goes Akira (God I love that) and Wasp Rick

Longtime viewers are well aware of how ruthless and sociopathic Rick can be, and Morty can get pretty dark when pushed too far. However, I feel this episode drove home much like Rick Morty can be when he wants to. In a homage of the anime film Akira, which is pointed out in the episode, Morty goes on a rampage. He uses Rick’s inventions and the Meseeks boxes to stop anything between him and his dream death. If there was any doubt that anime’s now mainstream and that my generation rules pop culture, I think this eliminates it.

So, not only is Morty capable of being as badass as Rick, but just as ruthless and uncaring? For all the times he tries to hold the moral high ground, Morty turns out just as bad as Rick.

Meanwhile, thanks to a cloning project he did two seasons ago, our Rick wakes up in alternate realities. He then gets disturbed by the fact that a lot of them are fascist dystopia’s. It’s a nice, yet disturbing, running gag in the episode. In the end, the one reality where he’s safe is the one where people evolved from wasps. My mortal enemies, and this episode reinforces that mindset for me. They sting people, eat others alive, and lay eggs in others. However, as Wasp Rick points out, when something evolves to be that big a jerk, empathy goes a long way. Seeing his counterpart get along with his family helps make Rick realize that he may not have it so bad. Can’t say the same for Mr. Goldenfold, though.

Edge of Tomorty: A Lesson No One Understands

In the end, Rick gets back home and saves Morty from his enslavement to the crystal. Yet if there’s a moral to be found in Edge of Tomorty, Rick can’t find it. I think the whole thing’s meant to either be a jab at fans who want to return to the basics and at moving forward. Rick actually sums up what may be the lesson of the whole debacle: that you should learn to live in the moment and think ahead. That would have solved both of their problems.

However, given how Rick (and now Morty) go into the “Rick and Morty forever” rant, I think there’s another message. This season, Justin and Dan are going to try and mix the classic formula while trying to test out new material. Just like Rick, I don’t think they give two cents about what other people think.

Sometimes, I think it’s better not to worry about deeper meanings, though, and just enjoy the ride. Next to The Rickshank Redemption, Edge of Tomorty may be my favorite of the Season Premiere’s. The jokes, that range from Rick’s clone troubles to what the stinger shows about Morty’s “dream death” are enough to have me howling with laughter. It’s a real strong start to the season, and with 70 more episodes ordered, the next decade’s going to have plenty of Rick and Morty. Rick and Morty forever and forever a hundred years Rick and Morty some things! This was worth staying up till midnight to see!

I Give “Edge of Tomorty: Rick, Die, Rickpeat” a 4.9/5. Rick and Morty’s still got it.

Hilarious Observations

• In a hilariously blatant attempt to self-promote their work, we got a shot of an ad for Trover Saves the Universe, a video game made by Justin Roiland that came out on PS4 and PC over the Summer.

• I may hate wasps and want to shout the Dalek war cry at them, but I like Wasp Rick.
• My favorite scene: The Wasp Smiths casually eating Goldenfold.
• Green Portal Productions. That’s a thing now.

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Sword Art Online: Alicization, Episode 12 & Episode 13 Review/Recap

I am terribly sorry for the delay on this, but I was busy all week, and now I’m trying to play catch up. However, Episodes 12 & 13 both tell the same important story. That story will define the remainder of the first half of SAO: Alicization. So I figured, just kill two birds with one stone and do them both at the same time. And that’s why we’re here now.

LINK START!

Recap

“The Sage of the Library”

Eugeo can’t shake the feeling that he’s heard Eldrie’s name before, but considering how they’re about to fight him with only their chains and system commands, that’s not as important. They do their best, but they can’t beat him. Just he has them on the ropes, Eugeo remembers who Eldrie is: Eldrie Woolsburg, the winner of the most recent Unification Tournament.

Since this means that that whole “summoned to this world” thing isn’t true, Eldrie starts to mentally break down, and its revealed that he has some sort of crystal implanted in him that blocks his real memories. Before they can make him remember everything, another Intergrity Knight ruins everything, and they have to run for it.

Just as they hit a dead end, a glowing door appears in the courtyard, with a girl inside beckoning them inside. Inside is a massive library, containing the history of Underworld and the Sacred Arts. More important, though, the girl’s name is Cardinal, the former regulator of Underworld.

While Eugeo goes to take a hot bath, Cardinal tells Kirito the truth: while the Gods of Underworld are super-accounts for emergencies, everything else is a lie made by the Axiom Church. Cardinal is, in fact, the manifestation of the Cardinal System that has run nearly every VR world Kirito has been in. Then she tells the true history of the world.

One of the four Rath employees who built Underworld was corrupt and instilled a sense of arrogance in his children, which led to the creation of the nobles. From their ranks, a girl named Quinella was born. Quinella attained an unheard of mastery of the Sacred Arts, which she used to fool everyone into believing she was a prophet of the gods. She then built the Axiom Church and the Taboo Index to ensure no one else could surpass her.

When she eventually grew old, she used the Sacred Arts to restore her youth, and then usurped the Cardinal Systems authority over Underworld, becoming the Administrator.

“Ruler and Mediator”

Even with all her power, Quinella hit another wall: her fluctlight had reached its memory capacity. Thus, she used a young girl as a test dummy to gain control of another’s Fluctlight. That would become the basis for the Integrity Knights Synthesis.

While it helped save her memories, Quinella’s plan backfired, and allowed Cardinal to use the body of the little girl as her own. Quinella was too strong for her to defeat, though, and she was forced to flee to the Great Library. She’s been hiding there while she sent animal agents to find someone who can help her take down Quinella.

It gets worse: Rath has designed an endgame to Underworld. Very soon, the inhabitants of the Dark Territory will invade the Human Territory, which will result in Underworld’s bloody destruction. If Kirito and Eugeo help Cardinal defeat Quinella, though, she will make them a deal. She can save ten people in Underworld, while she deletes the rest. Even though Kirito agrees to help Cardinal, he refuses to give up on Underworld.

After meeting up with Eugeo, Cardinal explains how to break the brainwashing of the Integrity Knights: by recovering the memory fragments of the Knights, located in Quinella’s quarters, and put them back in the Knights. Which means they need to fight through all the Integrity Knights to get to Quinella.

Cardinal then gives them some power-ups that will help them beat the Integrity Knights, and then she sends the two of them on their way, towards the fight of their lives.

Review

Now you see why I loathe the Axiom Church, the Noblility, the Taboo Index, and Quinella. That woman represents everything I despise in those who govern: she’s arrogant to the point of considering herself a goddess, and she abuses her power to oppress those beneath her and keep them from standing up to her rule. Her dumb rules are why Alice was taken away, and why Ronye and Tiese were nearly raped. She’s everything wrong with Underworld, and I am looking forward to the day that Kirito takes her down. It’s already happened in the anime; we just need to get to that point in the dub.

What should be of greater concern, though, is Cardinal’s prediction for the fate of Underworld. I know for a fact that she’s correct. The Dark Territory will invade, and the Integrity Knights won’t be able to stop them. The only chance Underworld has to survive is for Kirito to take down Quinella and rally the humans of Underworld. That, though, will be a story for another time.

Regarding the episodes themselves, I personally enjoyed them. I know that a lot of people may not like having to deal with exposition and flashbacks in shows, but they are necessary to move the plot forward at times. In this case, these two episodes establish what we had already suspected: that Underworld wasn’t supposed to be like this.

Next week, we start a new chapter in the Alicization saga, as Kirito and Eugeo must fight to save Underworld from Quinella’s tyranny and the coming apocalypse. If Karandi is right, then the next few episodes are going to become repetitive and boring. Since I didn’t start watching until the dub, though, I reserve judgement. I’m hopeful, though.

These episodes had far more talking than they did fighting, but they were some of my favorite episodes of the show so far, as they revealed a lot of important information about what’s happening. That, and I’m a sucker for a good flashback story

I Give “The Sage of the Library” and “Ruler and Mediator” 3.5/5 and 4/5

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Jay’s Favorite April Fools Day Pranks

Ah, April Fools TDay. The day of the year when people take the time out of their day to celebrate practical jokes and harmless mischief. I may not be able to spend the time to pull pranks, but I love this holiday, nonetheless!

This year, to celebrate April Fools Day, I thought I would talk about some of the best pranks that I’ve ever seen or heard of. Buckle up, people, we’re going in hot.

Toonami’s Back, Baby!

If you haven’t seen Adult Swim’s April Fools Day pranks, then you have been missing out. Every year since 2004, Cartoon Network’s late night adult block has gone out of their way to play some hilarious pranks. This one, though, was less of a prank, and more like an awesome gift.

If you’re a 90’s kid and love anime, then chances are you got that love from watching Toonami on Cartoon Network. So when it was cancelled in 2008, fans were so upset.

Then, for April Fool’s Day 2012, Adult Swim surprised everyone by bringing Toonami back from the dead for one night only. The next day, it was all anyone could talk about. The overwhelming support for the prank led to Adult Swim announcing the return of Toonami. Since May 26th, 2012, Toonami has aired nearly every Saturday. Best. Prank. Ever.

Rick and Morty Returns

You may recall how, two years ago, people were clamoring for McDonald’s to bring back the szechuan teriyaki dipping sauce they used to promote the Disney film Mulan. If you didn’t know what led to that, the answer can be found with Adult Swim’s hit animated show Rick and Morty.

For their April Fools Day prank for 2017, Adult Swim gave fans of Rick and Morty a huge surprise. With no prior announcement or marketing, they aired the Season Three premiere of Rick and Morty. Long story short, it sees Rick break out of an intergalactic prison and then single-handedly topple the intergalactic government. And Adult Swim aired it over and over all night long.

This is the best part: at one point in the episode, Rick talks about his love for the Mulan szechuan sauce and how he wants to bring it back. The fan base proceeded to turn it into a viral movement that McDonald’s ultimately gave into. They brought back the sauce for one day, but their inability to provide enough of the sauce for customers led to fans freaking out.

Wait, I wonder if the people from Rick and Morty did it because they knew fans would start a movement and that McDonald’s would screw up? Maybe that was the real prank. Either way, I loved it. I didn’t even care that Samurai Jack and Dragonball Super didn’t come on that night!

Google Maps Pac-Man

Every year, Google likes to get in on the April Fools Day Pranks, and a few years back, they gave us one of the best pranks I’ve ever seen: Google Maps Pac-Man.

On April Fools Day and a few days afterwards, Google Maps got an added feature allowing people to play games of Pac-Man. Unlike the traditional version, this one relied on the real world locations of streets. Go to major cities and it was amazing. I just wish they brought it back for this year!

Toonami in Japanese Subs!

You may be noticing a trend here, but I can’t help it. Adult Swim does some good pranks. And when Toonami happened to coincide with April Fools Day last year, they decided to do something fun.

They aired everything in Japanese! For one night, Toonami was a part of the Enligsh subtitle camp. This wasn’t as epic as when Toonami came back for one night, but it was still a lot of fun. Fans even got a sneak preview of FLCL: Alternative. Months before it was supposed to air. That is amazing.

Spaghetti Trees

This one was so good, it had thousands of people convinced that it was true. In 1957, BBC aired a three minute broadcast on a Swiss family harvesting spaghetti noodles from spaghetti trees. At the time, a lot of people in the UK didn’t know that spaghetti was a pasta because most didn’t eat it. Thousands of people ended up calling in asking them how to grow their own spaghetti trees. To this day, this elaborate prank is considered to be one of the greatest April Fools Day jokes of all time. Given the level of detail that BBC put towards this hoax, it’s easy to see why its so good.

South Park Terrence and Phillip Prank

Back when South Park was still a new show on the block, it ended up attracting a lot of controversy. And not in the good, South Park way. The Season One finale to the show left viewers with a cliffhanger, as it was about to reveal the identity of Eric Cartman’s father. Despite promising that they would learn the truth with the Season Premiere on April 1st, Matt Stone and Trey Parker decided to air a special starring the fictional Canadian duo, Terrence and Phillip.

While the fake out itself isn’t that funny, what was funny was how the fans weren’t amused by Stone and Parker’s stunt.

To be fair, though, it’s far from the worst decision that the show’s ever made.

Do you agree with my picks? What’s your favorite April Fools Day Prank? Let me know!